When South Park first aired in 1997 my daughter was living at home and working as a hair stylist. On Wednesday nights (I think) she and her co-workers began having what they called "South Park Night." At that time I'd only seen commercials for South Park on Comedy Central and I said to her something like, "You guys are really reaching for an excuse to get together and get wasted." She assured me that she and her friends needed no excuses to get wasted and that I'd like South Park if I gave it a chance. Shortly thereafter she convinced me to watch about five episodes she'd taped and surprisingly I became a South Park junky within five minutes of watching episode #1. Yes, I too am capable of contempt prior to investigation.

When I watched South Park commercials 12 years ago my thoughts went something like, "Oh man! You've got to be kidding me. Crappily animated fart jokes, just what the world needs." I was soon to eat my thoughts, which were not as disgusting as some of the stuff they paid Kenny to eat in one episodes, and I continue to consume.

Now if I were Grammy Parker (I'm not Jewish so I couldn't be Grammy Stone.) I would no doubt be calling Trey and saying to him, "Trey, you have really pushed the envelope too far this time." or, "Trey! did you get hold of some bad acid?" or, "You guys have gotten way too ridiculous and I'm never watching South Park again, EVER!" To which Trey would no doubt reply, "Well, screw you Mom." and that night I would once again find myself being lulled to sleep watching one of my many DVDs of this outrageous program.

For those of you who may have never seen even one episode of South Park but are considering investigating, please be advised that you must NOT begin by watching current episodes. One MUST be prepared for South Park by watching at least a few episodes from prior seasons; jumping right in to season 12 might cause irreparable brain damage, or at the very least you'd have absolutely no interest in watching episodes from previous seasons which should not be missed.

The South Park creators do a marvelous job of pointing out American absurdities. Granted they sometimes go to extremes and I've often wondered if Matt Stone and Trey Parker were simply trying to see how far they could push the censors (pretty far, apparently. Oh, yeah; it's cable.), but each episode usually contains puke for thought.

One of my favorites is, It Hits the Fan, first aired 06/20/2001. In this episode the entire world (minus Kyle) watches with fascination as the word, "shit" is spoken for the first time on television. Comedy Central didn't edit the "s" word and then I remembered I'd seen an episode of NYPD Blue where the censors allowed its use and I remember thinking, "Oh brother, they can now say "shit" on television, but only if the show is a high drama or has won Emmy Awards?" So when the South Park Elementary teachers explain to their students that the word "shit" could thereafter be spoken in school, but only under certain conditions, I nearly fell off my bed I was laughing so hard. Yes, the children could use the word "shit," but only in the non-literal sense. Mr. Garrison's explanation to one of his kindergarten students was the most hilarious. The tiny child asked, "Can we say, 'I have to take a shit?'" to which Mr. Garrison sternly replies, "No! No Filmore! You can say, 'I have to poop and shit,' or, 'Oh shit, I have to poop,' but not, 'I have to take a shit.' Is that clear?"

Please believe me when I say I've seen episodes of South Park which are truly offensive (Mr. Slave and Lemmiwinks comes to mind), but the majority are hilarious and well-written. And of course, Matt Stone and Trey Parker (among other collaborators) are quite talented musically. "Blame Canada" from SOUTH PARK: BIGGER, LONGER & UNCUT (Music and Lyric by Trey Parker and Marc Shaiman), was nominated in 2000 for best achievement in music (original song) at the Academy Awards. I think my daughter told me that Matt and Trey came to the awards tripping and wearing women's clothes.

In case you're interested, you can watch entire seasons of South Park online with limited commercial interruption--for free! But remember: start at the beginning. I can highly recommend The Jeffersons in season 8, Jewbilee from season 3, and almost any episode starring Timmy, especially Krazy Kripples in season 7. You can now get wasted and have South Park night any night--or day!

P.S. I'm not being paid for my opinions--shit!